The transportation referendum failed in metro Atlanta, but the issue is not going away quietly, as challengers of some of the area's county leaders are wrapping the tax plan into their runoff campaigns.
While both sides explore after-tax options, some of the local leaders in charge of crafting the plan's project list tied to the proposed 1 percent sales tax are still deep in campaign mode. Runoff elections are Aug. 21, less than two weeks away.
Twenty-one local elected commission chairmen and mayors were on that transportation roundtable. Seven of the chairmen were up for re-election last month. Those in Douglas, Rockdale and even DeKalb counties won their primaries outright. Chairwoman Charlotte Nash in Gwinnett was unopposed, while incumbents in Clayton, Cobb and Henry counties fight for another four years.
"T-SPLOST was such a big issue, I don't think it will go away," said Kerwin Swint, political science professor at Kennesaw State University.
But without the transportation referendum — which bumped up voter turnout to 31.5 percent — on the ballot, challengers will likely revert to a popular tactic to get voters back to the polls, Swint said.
"You talk about people's record, and I think the [transportation tax] will become a part of that record," he said.
It has become a large part of the record in Cobb County, where the GOP primary was a four-man race.
Bill Byrne, who is challenging incumbent Chairman and roundtable member Tim Lee, has rolled Lee's support of the regional tax into one of six taxes that Byrne says Lee has supported in the past two years.
Lee's runoff campaign has focused on touting his accomplishments while in office, and it has targeted Byrne's tumultuous past tenure as Cobb chairman, including an anti-gay resolution that led to the county losing out on Olympic volleyball events in 1996; and a county-owned composting plant that never functioned correctly.
So far, Lee has turned down two runoff debates against Byrne, saying he is choosing instead to do more targeted campaigning. Byrne says Lee is scared to debate him.
In Henry County, Tommy Smith, who is challenging incumbent Chairwoman BJ Mathis in the runoff, has wrapped the transportation issue in with his campaign against massive spending.
"A day after the election, when T-SPLOST failed here by a 70-30 margin, the commission and [Mathis] voted to raise our millage rate," said Smith, a retired city mayor. He finished the three-way GOP primary more than 3 percentage points ahead of Mathis.
Henry County commissioners raised the property tax rate from 11.75 mills to 14.5 mills to balance the county budget and close a $10 million deficit.
"She has shown a lack of leadership in supporting about $60 million in excessive spending, and allowing backroom deals, and we are hammering all those things," he said.
Mathis refutes the spending accusations, noting that the county's budget has been cut more than $15 million over the past three years, and 1,400 new jobs have been added in the county during her term. Still, she admits that the transportation tax did have an impact on the election.
"I'm not sure voters understood that ... the state law mandated that the county chairman and a mayor of the county serve on the roundtable," she said. "Service was based on the elected position, not the person specifically."
At some point, the chairmen facing re-election have touted the transportation referendum, unlike Gwinnett County Chairwoman Charlotte Nash. Nash, who was unopposed for her seat this year, chose not to enter the fray, telling voters to make their own decision.
Doing that is a judgment call, Swint said.
"In hindsight, you can say it would have been easier to say playing it safe was the best way, but if you're a leader, you are expected to lead," he said.
Focusing on that transportation tax support, and a lack of leadership in other areas, are a big part of Jeff Turner's campaign against incumbent Chairman Eldrin Bell in Clayton County. Their Democratic primary was a three-person race.
Turner, a former county police chief who opposed T-SPLOST, says he wants to bring back the county's bus system — which was shut down two years ago due to budget cuts — but possibly as a privatized service. (The T-SPLOST project list included money for the county's bus service.)
Turner also says he wants to improve the county's image and economic development opportunities.
"[Bell] said he didn't want to raise taxes, but he supported [the transportation tax], so he was walking the fence on that," Turner said.
Bell has maintained that the transportation plan didn't play into his election turnout, saying that this was "the season of anti-incumbents."
Overall, voters may generally be unhappy with local government, and incumbents may be feeling the brunt of that discontent, said Charles Bullock, a Richard Russell Professor of Political Science at the University of Georgia.
"They may be saying, 'Bring in a new team, get some new faces,' " Bullock said.
Re-election update
Seven county commission chairmen who were part of the 21-member roundtable that compiled the project list for the failed regional transportation tax were up for re-election last month. Three face a runoff on Aug. 21:
Clayton County: Eldrin Bell — in a Democratic runoff with former Clayton Police Chief Jeff Turner (no general election challengers)
Cobb County: Tim Lee — in a Republican runoff with former Cobb Chairman Bill Byrne (no general election challengers)
Henry County: Elizabeth "BJ" Mathis — in a Republican runoff with former Hampton Mayor Tommy Smith; winner faces Democrat Carlotta Harrell in November
Here's the status of the other four:
DeKalb County: CEO Burrell Ellis — re-elected: won Democratic primary (no general election challengers)
Douglas County: Tom Worthan — won Republican primary; faces Democrat Romona Jackson Jones in November
Rockdale County: Richard Oden — won Democratic primary; faces Republican Jason Hill in November
Gwinnett County: Charlotte Nash — was unopposed
Staff writer Tammy Joyner contributed to this article.
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